Rick Stansbury dismissed D.J. Gardner from the Mississippi State basketball team on Friday. The development came a day after Stansbury announced the heralded freshman would redshirt, and less than 15 hours after Gardner publicly expressed his displeasure with the coaching staff via Twitter.

"These b***es tried to f**k me over," Gardner Tweeted late Thursday, according to a screen shot grabbed by the Clarion-Ledger'sBrandon Marcello. "That’s y I red shirted .. But I wish my homies a great as* season.. I don’t even know y I’m still here"

Gardner is an in-state product who averaged 32 points and 10 rebounds as a high school senior.

Greg McDermott never really thought of it in advance because he was focused on basketball and stuff. But once his Creighton Bluejays were in the Bahamas for their preseason trip, the second-year coach realized that having little-to-no cell phone service was a nice advantage.

"There was no Facebook and no Twitter," McDermott (right) said. "So the players had to spend a lot of time together and figure out things to do with each other, and that's what I wanted accomplished on this trip. It was really important to develop team chemistry; I think that was accomplished on this trip, and having limited cell phone service was certainly a benefit that I didn't really think about before we left. It was a huge benefit because it forced the guys to spend time together."

Creighton returned home from the Bahamas last week.

McDermott shared his thoughts about the trip with CBSSports.com this week.

What McDermott learned: "We have depth at a lot of positions," McDermott said "We played 11 guys 14 minutes or more with nobody playing more than 21 minutes. So we were able to put a lot of combinations on the floor."

Who or what impressed McDermott: Freshman point guard Austin Chatman had 30 assists and just four turnovers in four games. "He's picked things up as quickly as anybody I've ever coached," McDermott said. "He's been blessed with a lot of speed and the ability to change speeds and change directions, and he's got unbelievable vision. Point guard was an area where we were weak last year because Antoine Young was our only point guard. So to have a quality person as a freshman who can play that position as well is going to be a huge plus for us."

What concerned McDermott: "We turned it over as a team a little more than I would've liked, but we're trying to play a little faster because of our personnel and I think that's a natural step in the process of learning to play that way," McDermott said. "You're going to force the issue sometimes, and that was somewhat of a concern. And the other concern is that we didn't shoot free throws very well, but I think we're a much better shooting team than we shot it."

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Most teams on foreign trips bounce from one city to the next, but Creighton stayed at the same resort the entire time. That made the trip more about basketball and less about sight-seeing. "From an educational standpoint it maybe wasn't as good in terms of seeing everything you can possibly see when you're on a trip," McDermott said. "But I think this is beneficial in a different way. You check in and you're there to stay, and we were at an all-inclusive resort so we never had to jump on a bus and go find a place to eat in the middle of the day."

Gregory Enchenique did not make the trip with Creighton because he's playing with the Venezuelan national team. That's not ideal, obviously. But it forced McDermott to look at other options in the middle and develop depth. "It ended up being a huge positive for Will Artino and Geoffrey Groselle," McDermott said. "They got all the reps in practice and all the playing time in the games at that center position. So there's some quality depth there that's gonna be really good for us."

Sophomore Ethan Wragge was limited to playing in just two of the four games because of an injury. "But it was only a mild MCL sprain," McDermott said. "He's going to be fine."

McDermott said he wants all of his veterans to get some rest over the next week or so -- especially his son, Doug McDermott, who played for USA Basketball before accompanying Creighton to the Bahamas. "I think he understands that he has to listen to his body," McDermott said. "He's essentially played half of a college season since the first week in July. He's played 15-plus games and has probably been part of 20-plus practices. He needs to give his body a break."

Because Chatman has been so impressive, McDermott will play his two point guards together at times this season. "We did that some over in the Bahamas," he said. "Having two great ball-handlers on the floor who can also distribute the basketball will really help us."

So now it's time to take that D-League job with the Dallas Mavericks, right?

Yes, I know Pearl considers himself a "college" coach, and so do I. But coaching a relevant college program is no longer a realistic option for the next three years even if it is technically possible, which is why Pearl would be wise to transition into professional basketball, a place where nobody cares how many phone calls you make or cookouts you host. While this NCAA cloud hangs, that should be Pearl's move. And he'll be great, I think, because the guy has, over a span of 19 seasons as a college coach, consistently shown the ability to win with good rosters, average rosters and below-average rosters.

So there's no reason to think Pearl wouldn't be a succesful D-League coach -- and, I genuinely believe, he'll have a better chance of being an NBA head coach before he gets a realistic opportunity to be a high-major college coach again. So why not jump on that path, take a shot and see what happens? A college job will probably be available later. But it's not now. And a decent one almost certainly won't be for a while.

He's competitive and he's a basketball coach, and that means every time he puts a team on a court he wants his players to have more points than the other players when the final buzzer sounds. He can't help it -- which is why it took great discipline to do what Marshall did during Wichita State's recent 11-day, five-game trip to Brazil.

"There was one game where I played nothing but freshmen and a transfer," Marshall said. "That was good. And in a lot of games I played the veterans and the new guys equally -- just tried to put my competitive nature on check and get those new guys meaningful minutes. I think that's going to help us in November and December. We all want to win, but you're there to get better. So you have to alter your mindset a little bit."

Wichita State returned home from Brazil last week.

Marshall shared his thoughts about the trip with CBSSports.com on Monday.

What Marshall learned: "I learned that our young guys have learned how intense and focused and passionate they have to be on every possession [at the college level]. This is different for them. A lot of these guys are so talented that they could coast a little bit [in high school]. But they now know what's expected, and they now have two months to do all the things to get prepared for [the start of practice on] Oct. 15. They'll be able to say, 'I'm ready for this.'"

What or who impressed Marshall: "I was most impressed with some of our new guys. That was the group I was focusing on, and, to be honest, that's the group that showed the most positive signs relative to what I was expected. There are some new guys who we are going to need to be ready, and they showed that they're going to be ready."

What concerned Marshall: "My veterans were up and down. They need to be more consistent. Obviously, they've got talent. I've got five or six guys who could be all-conference. But which ones are going to do that? Which ones are going to step up in the next 50 days and get ready to have a monster junior or senior season?"

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Marshall decided to allow his veterans to lift weights and run this week, but they're doing little-to-no work on the basketball court. "I'm gonna let them cool off a little bit," he said. "I hate the word 'burnout.' But you don't want them going steady from July through March."

One of the highlights of the trip to Brazil came when Wichita State hosted a basketball clinic at a school for impoverished children. "We went into one of these deals, and it's eye-opening and sad," Marshall said. "But they're trying to keep these kids in school, and they're using sports to try to do it. It's just like in the United States. If you're involved in sports you stay in school more. So we went into the school and did a clinic, toured the facility, saw the classrooms, and it was a great experience for our guys. The kids acted like our guys were NBA players. They were just awestruck. It was a very cool experience."

Wichita State signed James Anacreon, a junior college transfer, just before leaving for Brazil. The 6-foot-7 forward didn't make the trip because he had to finish some academic work, but Marshall expects the addition to help this season. "We think we've got a pretty good player," Marshall said. "He can give us quality minutes at a forward spot."

Marshall, like most successful non-BCS coaches, has found it difficult to schedule power-conference opponents. "So," he said, "we've gone after the best non-BCS guys we could find." Consequently, the Shockers have games scheduled this season with UNLV, Tulsa, UAB and Utah State. They're still looking for one more game, though. "We're open to anything at this point," Marshall said. "If we could find the right opponent we'd be open to a home-and-home [series]. But we're open to anything."

The NCAA will announce on Wednesday that former Tennesseee basketball coach Bruce Pearl is receiving a multi-year show-cause penalty for admitted violations that cost him his job, a source told CBSSports.com on Tuesday. The show-cause penalty, according to the source, is expected to range three years.

The source added that Pearl's former assistants -- Tony Jones, Steve Forbes and Jason Shay -- will each receive one-year show-cause penalties for their roles in the recruiting violations. Jones is now a high school coach just outside of Knoxville. Forbes and Shay are coaching at a junior college in Florida.

Fred Hoiberg was never gonna get Iowa State into the top half of the Big 12 by recruiting traditionally, and he was smart enough to realize that within weeks of taking over at his alma mater. He knew he'd have to gamble here and there -- especially with transfers. And that's precisely why ISU now has a roster in place that's talented enough to compete for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Royce White could be a star.

So could Chris Allen.

The transfers from Minnesota and Michigan State looked that way during a four-game trip to Italy.

Iowa State returned home late Friday.

Hoiberg shared his thoughts with CBSSports.com on Monday.

What Hoiberg learned: "I've got a group that's going to play hard every night, and with the talent we have we're going to have an opportunity to win a lot of games if we continue to buy in and and play unselfishly."What or who impressed Hoiberg:"All the new guys played well. Chris Babb was really good. Chris Allen shot the ball very well. But the thing I was pleased with offensively was just how well we shared the ball and how unselfishly we played. We had six guys average double figures over there. That shows that the ball was flying around and guys were making the extra pass. It was fun to watch."

What concerned Hoiberg: "We were never in a pressure situation over there, and I would've loved to have been in one where we had to make some big decisions down the stretch. That would've probably showed us more -- being in a situation like that. So that's going to be the big thing. Late in games, who is going to be the go-to guy? Who is going to have the ball in his hands? We don't know that yet. But I do think we have a lot of guys who can make plays."

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Four of ISU's top five scorers on the trip were players who transferred into the program from another Division I school -- specifically Scott Christopherson (Marquette), Chris Babb (Penn State), Royce White (Minnesota) and Chris Allen (Michigan State). Christopherson led the team with 13.8 points per game.

White averaged 11.8 points and a team-high 10.8 rebounds in four games and showed why he was a heralded recruit before enrolling at Minnesota.

Allen shot 47.6 percent from 3-point range in the four exhibitions. That's a big number, sure. But it should be noted that Allen shot 43.0 percent from beyond the arc in his final season at Michigan State, point being that he's capable of making jumpers at a high rate. "He's played in two Final Fours," Hoiberg said, "and he was the leading 3-point shooter on those Michigan State teams."

Allen wasn't the only person making 3-pointers. Christopherson made 12 in four games, Babb made 11 and junior college transfer Tyrus McGee made eight. "We've got a lot of guys who can shoot it," Hoiberg said. "Our big thing is going to be spacing and not always just settling for the first one."

As is the case with most foreign trips, the off-the-court stuff was also important. The Cyclones took in all the sights of Italy -- including the Vatican. "How many times are you going to get to walk through the Vatican with a tour guide?" Hoiberg said. "Not every often."

Jeff Eisenberg points out that the Kansas City Star is conducting an online poll with a very simple question: What should happen to Missouri athletic director Mike Alden and basketball coach Frank Haith? Readers can answer A) Fire Alden, B) Fire Haith, C) Keep both, or D) Fire both. And, as I type, 51 percent have voted to fire both while another 27 percent have voted to just fire Haith -- meaning 78 percent of Kansas City Star readers who have taken the time to answer want Haith gone before he ever coaches a game because of an accusation that he was aware of an alleged $10,000 payment to a recruit while at Miami. Or maybe they just want him gone because he might've cheated to get players and still failed to make the NCAA tournament in six of his seven years as the Hurricanes' coach.

Either way, the point's the same.

Frank Haith is not popular these days.

Assuming he lasts till the beginning of the season, he'd better win immediately.

"It's been so hot in Waco," said Baylor coach Scott Drew. "It was nice walking around outside."

The Bears traveled to Toronto for a four-game foreign trip.

They went 3-1.

Drew returned home this week and shared his thoughts with CBSSports.com.

What Drew learned: "I learned we have a lot of options this year. You're always going to have some injuries and illnesses and things, so you want to have some depth and options."

What or who impressed Drew: "Every game somebody else stepped up. Brady Heslip had a couple of games of more than 20 points. Perry [Jones] improved every game that he played. You could go up and down the roster and say one game it was this guy, one game it was that guy. So, again, I like that we have options."

What concerned Drew: "We turned it over too much. We weren't very good at taking care of the ball last year, and we aren't right now either."

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Sophomore Perry Jones led the Bears in points and rebounds on the trip. The 6-foot-11 sophomore averaged 20.3 points and 7.5 boards. He also led the Bears in field goal percentage (59.0 percent).

Neither Quincy Acy nor Quincy Miller played in Canada. Acy is injured. Miller is yet to be cleared for freshman eligibility. Both are projected as starters for the Bears this season.

Dime Magazine named Deuce Bello one of the world's top 20 dunkers while he was still in high school. The incoming freshman did nothing to damage that reputation in Canada. "Deuce had some highlight dunks up there," Drew said. "He's good for one highlight dunk a game."

Boston College transfer Brady Heslip, a native of Canada, played with the Bears in an official capacity for the first time in Toronto after sitting out last season because of NCAA transfer rules. He averaged 16.5 points and made 41.7 percent of his 3-point attempts. "He can really shoot it," Drew said. "I think he's going to be one of the best shooters in the country."

Baylor played man-to-man defense almost the entire time in Canada, but Drew said that doesn't necessarily mean his team will play man-to-man this season. The Bears have, under Drew, played lots of zone in the past -- most succesfully when Ekpe Udoh led the school to the 2010 Elite Eight.

Cory Jefferson might get caught in a numbers game considering the Bears have Acy, Miller, Perry Jones and Anthony Jones in the frontcourt. But the redshirt sophomore performed well in Canada -- averaging 11.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. "He's really improved," Drew said.